Malaga To Seville

We took a three hour bus ride north from Malaga to bring us to Seville. We were seated in the first row of seats behind the bus driver and were treated to a great view of the rolling Andalusian hills and the olive groves and vineyards that cover them. We passed a number of hilltop medieval towns complete with fortresses and defensive walls. I wished we could have taken the time to stop and explore them, but alas, the driver had a schedule to follow.

As it turned out, the schedule went by the wayside about 80 kilometers outside of Malaga. Despite wearing my earbuds and listening to music, I could hear some buzzers and bells intermittently sounding in the vicinity of the driver. Eventually, he pulled to the side of the road, walked around the bus, made a phone call and then announced something in Spanish. Although I couldn't completely understand his announcement, I got the gist: The bus had mechanical issues and we would not be able to continue our journey. After sitting there for about twenty minutes, his phone rang and, after a brief discussion, he got back behind the wheel and tried to get the bus moving. After a few attempts, the transmission finally engaged and we were slowly underway. By the time we were back on the highway, we were pretty much up to cruising speed and everything appeared to be alright (except, of course, for the continual beeping and buzzing from the instrument panel). I figured that the problem was with the electronic controls for the transmission. Once the bus stopped, the transmission refused to engage into first gear without considerable coaxing and prodding by the driver. But that was alright since he could stay on the highway all the way to Seville. Well, almost all the way. There was one bathroom break at about the half way point after which the driver skillfully got the bus back into motion.

As we neared Seville, things became a little more complicated. The highway turned into a large boulevard controlled by traffic lights. At the first red light the bus stopped and, for some time, refused to start moving again. The driver shut everything down, including the air conditioning, for about five minutes to let things cool off and, when he fired it up again, we began to roll to much applause from the passengers. From then on it was a game between the driver and the traffic lights. He slowed down and sped up in order to keep the bus in motion at all times. However, at about 1.5 kilometers from the Seville bus station, we ran into traffic and the inevitable happened: the bus made its last stop of the day. After several failed attempts to move the behemoth, the driver conceded defeat and announced that we had reached the end of the line. We disembarked and, after checking Google Maps, I was happy to find that the walk to our rented apartment was shortened by the breakdown.

Lemonade from lemons, or more aptly, marmalade from bitter oranges.Read more